Tampa, Florida (June 21, 2000)-The 28th General
Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) this evening
voted to reject the view that the Westminster Standards teach
that creation was in six calendar days. The decisive vote on
a substitute lost by a margin estimated at 3-2.

The Assembly instead adopted a measure which allows
for a diversity of interpretation with regard to creation. Upon
motion by the Rev. Frank Barker, the court amended a motion to
say that "since historically in Reformed theology there has
been a diversity of views of the creation days among highly respected
theologians, and, since the PCA has from its inception allowed
a diversity, that the Assembly affirm that such diversity as covered
in this report is acceptable as long as the full historicity of
the creation account is accepted."

The original motion from the Creation Study Committee
had been considered as an omnibus, and had three parts: (1) that
the entire report "be distributed to all sessions and presbyteries
of the PCA and made available for others who wish to study it";
(2) that "the Assembly declare its sense that in order to
permit careful and prayerful contemplation of this matter, no
further action of any kind with respect to this report be taken
by the General Assembly for a period of at least two years";
(3) that the committee be dismissed with thanks. Because the
motion came as an omnibus, and because no amendment was possible,
the Assembly witnessed the motion being under attack from extremes
on opposite ends of the spectrum. Dr. Barker wanted to put an
end to the matter, by having the Assembly declare its acceptance
of the diversity of opinion. On the other hand, Ruling Elder
Daniel Jarstfer argued against the motion because he did not want
what he called false and even heretical teachings. The Greenville
Presbyterian Theological Seminary student cautioned lest the church
cause little ones to stumble, and urged that the church should
not be maintaining a view which in essence says that children
have been deceived in their straightforward acceptance of creation
in six literal days.

After the defeat of the Committee's motion, the
Rev. David Coffin moved that the first and third recommendations
from the Committee be adopted. Shortly thereafter, Frank Barker
moved his amendment, thus setting the stage for the substitute
motion for the whole.

That substitute motion was put forth by the Rev.
David Hall, a retiring member of the Standing Judicial Commission.
Pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church, Oak Ridge, Tennessee,
Mr. Hall has been in the forefront of urging that the authors
of the Westminster Standards meant six normal and consecutive
days by the employment of the term, "in the space of six
days." He moved the following: "With charity toward
all our members and with fidelity to the original authors of our
confessional standards, our understanding is that, until evidence
to the contrary is found, the Westminster divines intended the
confessional phrase 'in the space of six days' to specify that
the six days of creation were days of normal duration with evening
and morning. Accordingly, for the peace of the church, any future
candidates who differ with this original meaning should request
an exception to this sense of the Confession until documentation
that the Westminster divines held other views is firmly established.
We also urge courts of original jurisdiction to make these future
determinations with care, charity, honesty, and impartiality."

After the votes, two long lines formed as commissioners
recorded their negative votes on the approved measure. Commissioners
indicated their intention to file their positive votes on the
lost substitute. Recording his negative vote on Dr. Barker's
amendment was Mr. Coffin.

The action came toward the evening recess,
after long parliamentary wranglings in the late afternoon and
into the evening. On more than one occasion, even after cloture
on a motion, points of information and points of order prolonged
the time spent on the matter. At one point, approximately 45
minutes was spent on trying to decide the propriety and effect
of a procedural motion from the Creation Study Committee. The
Assembly finally decided that the Committee's recommendation,
in effect, suspended some of the provisions of Roberts Rules of
Order; the procedure was adopted by a requisite two-thirds super-majority.
The approved procedure called for one hour of presentation of
the report by the Committee, followed by an hour of open debate,
discussion, and questions.

Assembly Approves New Women's Policy

Tampa, Florida (June 21, 2000)-The General Assembly
of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) today approved a new
policy with regard to women speaking. While affirming that women
should not preach in public worship under the auspices of the
Mission to North America (MNA) Committee, the court also stated
that there is a difference between "the preaching of the
Word in worship and the subject matter of seminars," and
that at the heart of that difference is "the issue of authority."
The Assembly interpreted the I Timothy 2 prohibition on women
teaching or having authority over men as applying to formal worship
and "not that of the more informal seminar which is generally
more subjective, informal and based on personal experience than
is the preaching of the Word in worship." The new policy
says that in most cases, "teaching and ruling elders present
the content in the seminar context. However, from time to time,
GA/MNA may ask that godly men and women give presentations even
though they are not elders, but who in God's providence may have
insights and experience which may prove helpful and instructive
to those who lead in ministry."

The new policy supercedes that enacted by the 1997
General Assembly, which stated that women were not to conduct
seminars except where the intended audience was other women.
Today, the Rev. Roland Barnes, a member of the MNA Committee,
moved a substitute motion which would have mandated that the MNA
Committee "will not employ women as keynote speakers or expositors
of the Bible in seminars except when those seminars have women
as the primary audience (I Timothy 2:11-12; Titus 2:2-3/BCO
12)." Mr. Barnes' proposal also would have allowed MNA from
time to time to "invite godly women, who in God's providence
may have insights and experience which may prove helpful to those
who lead in ministry, to give informational presentations to audiences
comprised of men or women, in a seminar or similar context."

In Other Action . . .

In other action, the 28th PCA Assembly . . .

*Approved the formation of a new permanent program
committee. The Committee on Reformed University Ministries will
begin functioning this year; and will gain final status pending
amendments to the Book of Church Order.

*Approved the acquisition of new office buildings
in the Atlanta area.

*Approved the dissolution of Northeast Presbytery
and the establishment of three new presbyteries in its place:
Southern New England, Northern New England, and New York State.

*Approved the communication of concerns to the Evangelical
Presbyterian Church with regard to its reception of a PCA minister
who has been indefinitely suspended, and authorized the Stated
Clerk to "likewise address other Reformed bodies who apparently
disregard our discipline when requested by a PCA presbytery."

*Upon motion from the floor, instructed the Interchurch
Relations Committee to "move the expulsion of the CRC [Christian
Reformed Church] from NAPARC if the CRC does not rescind its position
on the ordination of women."

*Received several personal resolutions. Ruling
Elder Robert Miller wants the Stated Clerk to "be directed
to request an audience with those government officials who have
not responded to the Assembly's previous communication on the
abortion issue in order to convey personally the Assembly's grave
concerns." Mr. Miller also introduced a resolution with
regard to women in combat. The Rev. Jerry C. Mead addressed concern
over "A Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination
Against Women," which has been recommended by a United Nations
committee; according to the resolution, "This convention
proposes the legalization of prostitution, as well as the recognition
of homosexual practice as normal, marriage of same sex couples,
and other pro-abortion legislation." The Rev. Charles Wilson
stated in his resolution that "there are many unsettling
issues in the PCA such as the Creation issue, the role of women
in the Church, and the requested division of Westminster Presbytery
on theological grounds"; and it asked for a committee to
study the diversity of opinion in the PCA and to propose a method
"as to how the present differences may be laid to rest."
The Rev. Jeff Black wants to know what happened to the half a
million dollars raised for the support of Franco Maggiotto in
Italy. And the Rev. John Owen Butler desires a regular reporting
in the denominational statistics concerning catechizing.